Silverstone Classic

July 24th 2009 - July 26th 2009

The signs were good with approaching 30 cars promised for the Silverstone Classic, in stark contrast with the previous rounds at Spa and Monza.

Thursday the free practice was actually graced with 25 cars so we all began to relax and as we went into qualifying on Friday we had 24 high quality runners to enjoy, the missing car being the Damax run Spice Buick which was hors de combat following a terminal over rev.

With only 25 minutes to qualify all the teams were under pressure particularly those running two driver combinations. A last minute entry of the Mike Jankowski Courage C22, driven by Jamie Campbell-Walter, was a very welcome addition to the proceedings as was the return of the Nick and Chris Randall Nissan NPTI-90 and remarkably all 24 survived to start the 1 hour race on Saturday.

In perfect weather conditions the rolling start grid came out of Woodcote in splendid formation and, clearly listening to the admonitions in the drivers briefing, all made it round Copse unscathed. It did not take long for the runners to spread out with the usual suspects at the sharp end. But right down the field battle was joined much to the approval of the substantial crowd. It was clear that Chris Buncombe in his V12 Jaguar XJR9 had serious pace and he proceeded to delight the Jag fans by romping away from his pursuers. When the Bob Berridge/ Gareth Evans Nissan R88C came into the pits early everyone suspected a cunning plan but that thought was soon dashed as the car was pushed into the garage to retire. Sadly the second car from the team, the Paul Whight Aston Martin AMR1, also failed to finish when it stopped on track with an electrical problem.

Rob Sherrard in his Sauber Mercedes C9 had been having an excellent run in the first half of the race contesting 2nd place with Andy Purdie but an over excited right foot attached to his co-driver put the car into a harmless spin exiting Luffield. When the stalled motor refused to re-start the car had to be pushed away to safety by the ever-attentive marshals.

Welcome returnee David Mercer was sharing Richard Bateman’s Tiga GC287 in his first drive for a few years and was clearly enjoying himself until a rear upright failure pitched the car off at Maggots at speed. Being a highly experienced driver David just clenched his teeth and brought the crippled car to a safe halt. The subsequent recovery caused more damage but sterling pit work was to have the car back out on Sunday.

With the re-fuelling / driver changes successfully completed the second half of the 1 hour race ran to its conclusion with only Gary Pearson in the JD Classics Jaguar XJR11 and Andy Purdie in his mis-firing Nissan R90C on the same lap as the eventual winner Chris Buncombe.

Sunday’s 30 minute race started as before with a clean run through Copse. When Andy Purdie crossed the line at the end of the first lap with a huge lead it was clear that something had occurred. Sure enough there had been a spinning match at Abbey, which tripped up several of the front-runners and resulted in the retirement of the Gary Pearson XJR11. It looked all over but Chris Buncombe thought otherwise and proceeded to chase down the Purdie Nissan, which this time was running very well. With rain threatening he got within 2.5 seconds but time ran out. With Justin Law bring up 3rd place in Nick Rini’s unique Jaguar XJR12D the podium was decided and Rob Sherrard ended his race with a very creditable 4th place in the Mercedes C9. When newcomer Pat Murphy pulled into the pits in his very neat Tiga GC286 Mazda after 13 laps it looked like his debut meeting had been spoiled by mechanical problems. In fact he was just plain knackered. Better get into the gym Pat!

With only two weeks between meetings the preparers are going to be very busy to ensure a good turnout at The Nurburgring Oldtimer. Fingers crossed!

Group C Racing would like to thank those of you who supported the series at The Silverstone Classic the weekend and to congratulate the following drivers for their podiums positions: